Patrick McEleney - 'No-one is hitting the panic button here'

Derry City vs. Sligo Rovers

Tonight, 7:45pm

Patrick McEleney is remaining calm about Derry City's title chances this season, insisting there does not need to be an over-reaction to every result. 

The City captain, who has won three Premier Division titles with Dundalk, is hoping to add to that with his home town team, having recently made his return from a long-term injury. But after the high of last Friday’s victory over St. Patrick’s Athletic, the Candystripes lost to Shamrock Rovers on Monday night, and have now fallen four points behind league leaders Shelbourne. Fans have since vented their frustrations online, but McEleney, who has seen it all in his time in the League of Ireland, insists that there is no need to panic. 

“We're still in with a shot,” he said. “If somebody said you're going to be a couple of points ahead of Rovers going into your halfway, would you have taken it? Possibly. Obviously, the other night was disappointing, but I think we've been quite good recently, and we're getting bodies back, so no-one is hitting the panic button here.”

McEleney is well aware of the criticism aimed at the team with each disappointing result, a fact of life with expectations at the Brandywell much higher in recent years.

“It’s feast or famine,” he stated. “We can’t get too high with the highs or too low with the lows. I’ll not be anyway so we just have to keep motoring on and hopefully feed that through the dressing room, and hopefully it feeds through to the fans. We're at home now and look, we're in a title race as far as I'm concerned. We're a few points off Shelbourne of course and it's easier said than done, but we have 18 games to go.”

McEleney has recently returned to action, and played a decisive part in last week’s victory at Richmond Park, playing the pass which set up Paul McMullan to score the winning goal. That was just a small reminder of what the midfielder can do, and having made appearances in the last three games, he is hoping to play more of a part before the mid-season break.

“It's just good to get out there,” he said. “Obviously, I helped a wee bit against St. Pat’s with the goal and stuff. I've trained a couple of weeks and I think I've said it previously, it's just day by day with me now, trying to affect games and get myself to a place where I can go. When that is, it's not up to me, but I feel really good and positive about where we're going as a team. As I say, I just hope everybody rolls behind it and gets behind us. The other night, as I say, was disappointing, but we’re hoping to kick on.

“I know I'm capable of affecting things when I'm out there. I know I haven't been playing, not really 100% obviously. People are nearly 20 games ahead of me, but I think I have a know-how and I'll get better as well, there's no doubt about it, I'll get better.”

Sligo Rovers come to the Brandywell in the midst of poor form, having one just once in their last nine games, but their recent record against Derry City is encouraging, having lost just once in their last six games against the team from the Brandywell.

“I say it all the time, there's no easy games,” McEleney said. “I kind of knew the season would go the way it's gone, to be honest with Galway and Waterford coming up and the calibre of managers in the league, that it was going to be the way it is. You ask any team or any manager about every team, and there's no easy ones.”

With Shelbourne travelling to Shamrock Rovers tonight, the picture at the top of the Premier Division could yet change, and McEleney is looking forward to his team mates bouncing back well from their latest defeat.

“The game was on Monday, but the fact that we have a game on Friday now at the Brandywell, I think that’s a good thing,” he said. “I'm hoping that everybody comes and gets behind us because at the end of the day we’re still in a title race in my eyes. The other night was disappointing, there’s no getting away from it, but there's no negativity in our address room at the minute. I think we're all just looking forward.”